JP-A-2011-15529 discloses a charging cable used to charge a battery mounted on a vehicle. The charging cable has a function to perform a user authentication. The charging of the battery is enabled only when the user authentication succeeds. Thus, the user authentication function prevents others who don't have authority to use the charging cable from using the charging cable.
In JP-A-2011-15529, the charging of the battery is performed by connecting a connector of the charging cable to an inlet of the vehicle. Once the connector is disconnected from the inlet, the charging cable is put into a charging disable state where the charging of the battery is disabled. The charging cable is kept in the charging disable state until the user authentication succeeds again.
Therefore, even in a situation where the charging cable is less likely to be stolen, a user is required to perform the user authentication each time the charging of the battery is performed. In this way, the charging cable disclosed in JP-A-2011-15529 requires a user to do troublesome procedures to charge the battery and therefore may be inconvenient for a user.